Tom Hiddleston

Thomas William "Tom" Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He is known for playing the character of Loki in the Marvel Studios films Thor(2011), The Avengers (2012), and Thor: The Dark World (2013). He has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's First World War film War Horse (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011), the 2012 BBC series Henry IV, Henry V, and the romantic vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). In theatre, he has been in the productions of Cymbeline (2007) and Ivanov (2008). In December 2013 he starred as the title character in the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus which played until February 2014. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his role in Cymbeline while also being nominated for the same award the same year for his role of Cassio in Othello. In 2011 he won the Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer and nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award for his role in Thor. He won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight and Best Villain in 2013 for his role in The Avengers. Early life and education Hiddleston was born in Westminster, London, to parents Diana Patricia (née Servaes), a former stage manager and arts administrator, and James Norman Hiddleston, a scientist in physical chemistry who was the managing director of a pharmaceutical company. His father is from Greenock, Scotland and his mother from Suffolk, England. He is the middle child with two sisters, Sarah (oldest), a journalist in India, and Emma (youngest), also an actor. He was raised in Wimbledon, in his early years, and later in Oxford. He started off at the preparatory school, The Dragon School in Oxford, and by the time he was 13, he boarded at Eton College, at the same time that his parents were going through a divorce. "I think I started acting because I found being away at school while my parents were divorcing really distressing." Hiddleston continued on to Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double first in Classics. He graduated from RADA in 2005. Career While still doing student plays Hiddleston began doing television, landing parts in Stephen Whittaker’s adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby for ITV the BBC/HBO co-production Conspiracy, and as Randolph Churchill, the son of Winston Churchill, in the BBC/HBO drama The Gathering Storm. On graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hiddleston won his first film role, playing Oakley in Joanna Hogg’s first feature, Unrelated. He also appeared in the leading role of Edward in Joanna Hogg's second feature, Archipelago, and had leading roles in Declan Donnellan's company Cheek by Jowl's productions The Changeling, and Cymbeline. His Donmar Warehouse credits include Cassio in Michael Grandage's production of Shakespeare's Othello alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor to critical acclaim and later Lvov in their West End revival of Chekhov's Ivanov. His TV credits include Magnus Martinsson in the BBC detective drama Wallander, Bill Hazledine in Suburban Shootout, John Plumptre in the BBC costume drama TV film Miss Austen Regrets and William Buxton in the BBC drama series Return to Cranford. Hiddleston is well known for his portrayal of Loki in the 2011 Marvel Studios film, Thor. He was invited to audition by Kenneth Branagh, the film's director, after having previously worked with Branagh onIvanov and Wallander. Hiddleston said of Branagh, "Ken has had a life-changing effect. He was able to say to the executives, 'Trust me on this, you can cast Tom and he will deliver'. It was massive and it's completely changed the course of what is available to me to do. Ken gave me my break." In the beginning, he originally auditioned for the part of Thor. "I initially auditioned to play Thor. That was what I was being considered for, because I'm tall and blonde and classically trained, and that seemed to be the mold for what Thor was, he was to be a classical character. And it was in my auditions. I owe this entirely to Marvel and their open-mindedness, they saw something that they thought was interesting. They saw some temperament that they liked." The casting director gave Hiddleston six weeks to bulk up, so he went on a strict diet and gained twenty pounds of muscle. In the end, Branagh decided he was more suitable as the antagonist and cast him as Loki. To prepare for his role as Loki, Hiddleston trained in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira. Also in 2011 Hiddleston portrayed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in writer-director Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, the noble Captain Nicholls in War Horse, a film based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, directed by Steven Spielberg, and Freddie Page, a RAF pilot in the drama The Deep Blue Sea, alongside Rachel Weisz. In 2012, he reprised his role as the supervillain Loki in The Avengers. While filming a scene with Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, the film's director, Joss Whedon told the fighting duo that the scene did not look real enough, so Hiddleston told Hemsworth to really hit him for the fight scene. "I said to Chris, 'Dude, just hit me. Just hit me because I'm protected here and it's fine.' He's like, 'Are you sure?' I was like, 'Yeah, it will look great. Just go for it.'" On television in 2012 Hiddleston appeared in the BBC Two series The Hollow Crown, portraying Prince Hal opposite Jeremy Irons as Henry IV in the adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I andPart II. He later as appeared as King Henry V in the television film Henry V. In 2013, Hiddleston played Loki again in Thor: The Dark World, following which he played a vampire, Adam, in Jim Jarmusch's film Only Lovers Left Alive with Tilda Swinton as Eve and Mia Wasikowska. He had a cameo in the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted, as the Great Escapo. Hiddleston replaced Benedict Cumberbatch in the upcoming gothic horror film Crimson Peak directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The film started filming in Toronto in February 2014 with an October 2015 release date. Other upcoming roles include Robert Laing in the film adaptation of J.G. Ballard's novel High Rise, directed by Ben Wheatley. The film started shooting in Northern Ireland in July 2014.